IBT Staff Reporter

Greece and a team of EU/IMF/ECB inspectors aims to conclude talks on a medium-term fiscal plan by Friday when Prime Minister George Papandreou is set to discuss its main points with Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker, a senior government official told Reuters.

Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence denied the allegations against them that its operatives were behind the abduction and killing of the journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad.

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde has proposed visiting China in early June and will meet leading officials from the People's Bank of China, China's foreign ministry said on Thursday, a visit during which she would discuss her candidacy to head the International Monetary Fund.

Fourth Seed Andy Murray is confident of defeating world number one Rafael Nadal in the French Open semifinals despite suffering an ankle injury in the third round.

Legendary basketball player Shaquille O'Neal announced his retirement on Twitter

U.S. warehouse club operator Costco Wholesale Corp beat market expectations with a 13 percent rise in May same-store sales, helped by higher gasoline prices.

Private equity firm Gores Group is in talks to buy more than half of bankrupt bookseller Borders Group Inc's remaining stores, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

China rejected the allegations of hacking Google-email accounts of US officials, military personal and journalist.

World stocks extended losses on Thursday and the dollar hovered near a one-month lows against major currencies after a run of dismal economic data pointed to a faltering recovery in the United States.

Stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wall Street on Thursday following the previous session's sharp losses, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.05 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.09 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.13 percent at 3:45 a.m. EDT.

North Korea's National Defense Commission has reportedly forbidden all women aged 10 to 60 from traveling on trains and roads to the NK/China border.

Jordanian Ashraf Hamdan began investing in Dubai's real estate market in 2006, with a few modest rental investment forays before turning his sights on flashier projects as a wave of luxury developments hit the market.

The International Air Transport Association said on Thursday the global economy was recovering more slowly than expected, but was inching upward based on air traffic data, a key barometer of growth.

Citigroup Inc shut down a $400 million hedge fund that used the bank's money and mathematical models to bet on stocks, in the wake of new regulations aimed at stopping proprietary trading, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde will visit China in early June and will meet leading officials from the People's Bank of China to discuss her candidacy to head the International Monetary Fund, China's foreign ministry said on Thursday.

Hewlett-Packard Co sees the WebOS software it acquired from Palm running devices besides its own and is open to licensing the operating system, Chief Executive Leo Apotheker said.

According to Wikipedia, Engrish refers to unusual forms of English language usage originating in some East Asian countries.

The high unemployment rate means the Fed's ultra-easy money policies remain the right course of action, top Federal Reserve officials said on Wednesday.

Nigerian police have raided the premises in the south-eastern city of Aba, following a report that pregnant teenage girls are being forced to produce babies, which would be used later for rituals or other purposes.

Japan's Sharp Corp said it plans to dedicate more than 70 percent of output at one of its liquid-crystal display panel plants to small panels for smartphones and tablets, a move the Nikkei newspaper says is expected to boost the company's 2011/2012 earnings.

Ford Motors is investing $100 million to install robotic plant laser inspection technology to improve quality through reduced wind noise, the carmaker said in a statement.

Microsoft Corp showed off a version of its next operating system at technology conferences in the United States and Taipei, as some PC makers grumbled over restrictions on their involvement in the development of the system.

Asian stocks slid on Thursday, with a steady stream of weak U.S. data putting a damper on risk taking ahead of Friday's payrolls report, though valuations will probably in the near term limit a big decline in global share prices.

Toyota Motor Corporation is recalling 106,000 Prius cars globally to replace the electric power steering pinion shaft attachment nuts, the carmaker said in a statement. Of the total, approximately 52,000 would be from the United States.

Deadly tornadoes swept through the heart of western and central Massachusetts, leaving a trail of destruction and killing 4 people even as rescue efforts were hampered by heavy thunderstorm and hail.

Teens should no longer be allowed to use ultraviolet tanning beds, the California Senate decided Wednesday, with a 24-9 vote.

Oil trading firm Arcadia Petroleum, sued by regulators last week for allegedly manipulating U.S. oil prices, used hardball tactics in Yemen to buy the country's oil exports at below market prices, until authorities revamped their sales process to break the trading house's long-standing monopoly, according to a confidential State Department cable.

Three academics say there was a bubble in LinkedIn Corp's shares during the first four days of its trading, which they have determined definitively using a model they designed.

New York Congressman Anthony Weiner said on Wednesday that he did not send a lewd photo over his Twitter account but cannot be sure that the photo was not of him.